Where the Red Fern Grows

A loving threesome, they ranged the dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn. Little Ann had the brains, and Billy had the will to make them into the finest hunting team in the valley. Glory and victory were coming to them, but sadness waited too. Where the Red Fern Grows is an exciting tale of love and adventure you'll never forget.From the Paperback edition.

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This book was recommended as a good read by a captain in the United States Army. He read it years ago and still cherishes the story and the learning lessons.

I found it to be a heartwarming story of love between a young boy and the dogs he worked very hard to purchase. The love and support of his parents, sisters, and grandfather adds to the beauty of the book. Billy was taught to work hard and reap the rewards of it. He faced joy and sadness throughout the book.

The author did an excellent job of pulling the reader into the story from the very beginning.

This book reminded me of The Rufus Chronicle Another Autumn by Charles Gusewelle.

I was read this to in grade four, and recently picking it up I remembered why I loved it so much. Where the Red Fern Grows covers topics of loyalty, bonds, love and loss into a beautiful package. Billy Colman, the main protagonist, and his relationship with his coonhound pups was one to be idolized and respected. It was so sweet and touching to see this display of affection between the trio, and the adventures they faced together. I cried and felt joy throughout this novel, and have to put out a disclaimer that this is a very sorrowful book. There are themes of violence and sadness but it is a must read and a classic to be treasured for years to come. Rating 4/5
- @jewelreader of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library

I loved this book. I read this when I was in grade 4 and I remember most of my class cried, including me. I would recomend this book to anyone and I am so happy my teacher assigned this book for our class.

My 5th grade teacher read this to my class years ago. I remember the entire class begging her to let us skip recess so we could find out what happens next. Now I'm reading it to my kids (4th and 6th graders). Amazing book (and an amazing 5th grade teacher!)

This book is so amazing. I've read it so many times that I can't count them. The book is so sweet and touching. I've always loved dogs, but these dogs were amazing. I loved their relationship with Billy and with each other. I cried so hard at the end. I cry every time I read it. Love this book.

For nearly 40 years now I believed this was the first novel I ever read. I just remember driving across the country facing backwards in a brown on tan 1972 station wagon and reading an incredible book about a boy hunting pheasants. After reading this, I'm pretty sure it must have been another book because this was just an average piece about hunting raccoons. For some reason my second book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was not age appropriate but I loved it even more. I had no clue back then how Ken Kesey, mental illness and reading would all play such vital roles in my vocation and avocation over the years.

Summary

The adult Billy Colman narrates his childhood memories. Living with his Papa and Mama and three sisters in the Ozark Mountains in Oklahoma, all 10-year-old Billy wants is two hounds with whom he can hunt "coons" (raccoons). His family cannot afford them, however, so Billy works odd jobs for two years and saves up the money to buy them. Only then does he tell his plan to his Grandpa, who helps arrange the purchase.

After an initial adventure in which they scare off a mountain lion, Billy and his two hounds - a small, intelligent female dog he names Little Ann and a stronger, determined male dog he calls Old Dan - are inseparable. They learn all the angles of coon hunting and make a great team; no wily coon can outsmart Little Ann, and Old Dan is strong and sure. More than that, the dogs seem bonded to each other, and to Billy, in mysterious ways. Both dogs' lives are endangered at different points, but with bravery and intelligence they all help each other out of jams.

One day, the cruel, trouble-making Pritchard boys bet Billy that his dogs, whose reputations grow with each new coonskin, cannot "tree" (chase up a tree, at which point the hunter usually chops down the tree) the elusive "ghost coon" in their neck of the woods. On the hunt, the elder Rubin accidentally falls on Billy's ax as he tries to kill Billy's dogs (who are fighting the Pritchards' dog). The incident haunts Billy.

To cheer Billy up, Grandpa enters him in a championship coon hunt. Billy, Grandpa, and Papa go to the contest. Immediately, Little Ann wins the beauty contest. Billy qualifies for the championship round in which his dogs bag three coons, but a blizzard sets in as they chase away a fourth one necessary for the win. The men eventually find the half-frozen dogs circling a treed coon. When they kill the fourth coon, they win the championship and the $300 jackpot.

The family is ecstatic over Billy's success, and Mama is especially grateful for the money. But some weeks after the championship, Billy and the dogs encounter a mountain lion. The dogs save Billy's life, and they manage to kill it, but not before it inflicts serious damage on Old Dan. He dies, and without him, Little Ann loses the will to live and dies a few days later. Billy buries them next to each other and cannot understand why God took them from him.

With the money the dogs have earned over time from the coonskins and the jackpot, the family can finally move to town in the spring and the children can receive an education. On the day they move, Billy revisits his dogs' graves. He finds a red fern has sprouted up between the two mounds. He knows the Indian legend about a little boy and girl who had been lost in a blizzard and froze to death. When their bodies were found in the spring, a red fern had sprouted between them. As the legend goes, only an angel can plant the seeds of a red fern, which never dies and makes the spot sacred.

The adult Billy reflects that he would like to revisit the Ozarks and all his childhood haunts. He is sure the red fern is still there, larger now, for he believes its legend.